North Carolina is one of the few schools in the ACC that returns a quarterback with starting experience in 2014 -- and yet there’s no guarantee from coach Larry Fedora that Marquise Williams will be the Tar Heels’ starter when UNC opens the season Aug. 30 against Liberty.
Williams, who became the starter last season after veteran Bryn Renner suffered a season-ending injury at NC State, completed 126 of 217 passes for 1,698 yards and 15 touchdowns. He also had 536 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns and caught two passes for 52 yards and a touchdown.
His next audition will come this spring.
“We’ve opened the position up,” Fedora told ESPN.com on Wednesday. “He and Mitch Trubisky and Kanler Coker are going to battle it out this spring, and we’ll see what happens there.”
Coker, who made his collegiate debut in the win over Virginia last season, was promoted to No. 2 on the depth chart last year after Renner was injured. Williams also earned his five starts at the expense of his injured teammate, but now he has to earn it on his own.
“We’re going to compete and we’ll see what happens,” Fedora said. “[Williams] has the most experience of anybody, but those guys are definitely going to compete for that job. You don’t earn a job just because a guy gets hurt. Marquise stepped into that role because Bryn got hurt. Now we’re going to compete for the job. Yeah, he does have the advantage because he started [five] games, but that doesn’t mean it’s his job.”
